I was ten years old, standing on the stage. My hands were ________ and my heart was beating fast, and through the sea of faces in the audience, I was searching for the only one who ________ most to me. She knew that our ________ were today. She’d promised me she would be there.

“The life of an elephant and the life of a human,” I said, ________ audible (听得见的), “are not so different.” My fingers ________ the watercolor painting I’d done of an African elephant; I knew that my face was red and that everyone was ________ me because of it, which only made me blush (脸红) even more. Speaking in public had never been ________ for me, but today, having to present my animal research project to a ________ gym, was terrifying.

I swallowed hard. “Over the ________ of a lifetime, elephants both ________ and are affected by their environment. Elephants live in female-led groups. The matriarch-the oldest in the family-makes all the ________.”

I glanced at my teacher, who gave me a smile of ________, and just then I saw a(n) ________ at the door of the gym. She came in.

“Elephants ________, not just with gestures but also with sounds too low for us to hear.”

Suddenly, my mind went ________. I could not remember a single word. My ________ became the heartbeat of the world. I had ________ this presentation in the shower, while brushing my teeth, and while riding on the bus. As it turned out, there was something ________: forgetting the speech. Then my mother cleared her throat, and our eyes ________. Gradually, I started to remember everything.

In all the years since then, I have never forgotten a single ________ about elephants.

Jarrett Little was road testing his mountain bike outside of Columbus, Georgia, when his riding partner, Chris Dixon, stopped suddenly. Something in the distance _____ among the trees caught his attention. It _____ to be a sandy-colored five-month-old Great Dane mix.

He was skinny, and had a lot of road rash and _____ leg. The cyclists fed the friendly pup and _____   their water. They were more than seven miles from _____ and riding bikes. "We couldn't _____ him, "Little told his partner. He _____ picked up his new friend and slipped the dog's hind legs into the back pockets of his cycling jersey.

Then he put the dog's _____ paws over his shoulders.

The 30-minute ride into town _____ at a bike store, where they got more water and ______ for the dog. That was when Andrea Shaw, a woman from Maine in town on business, ______ by. The dog made a beeline for her, licking her. Shaw was ______ and, after learning what had happened, declared her ______ "I am keeping this dog.

Shaw called him Columbo ______ the town where they'd met and scheduled an operation on his leg. Today, Columbo is living happy ______ on a farm with a horse, a pony, and two coon dogs to keep him company.

I still remember the day when I was driving to the supermarket I own. When I came out, I found a boy ______ my car with a brush. I went over and patted him ______ the shoulder, which surprised him very much. In no time he began to ______ at me. So I was sure he ______ some money. From the shoes he was wearing I could hardly imagine how ______ he was. So I offered him a $100 bill. To my great surprise, he ______ to take it. When I was wondering what he was doing, he said, ”I was waiting here for 4 hours, waiting for you. Your ______ is so beautiful and I like it, but I don’t need that. “I knew he was mentioning the ______.

As he had refused the money, I offered to drive him around the town. The boy became so ______ that he got into the car at once, “Would you please drive me   ______? It is only about 3 miles.” What the boy wanted to do was to show off to his friends and his family. ______ I stopped, he jumped out and ran into an old building, telling me to wait there for some time. Very soon he came out, saying to a little girl on his back, “Look at this beautiful car. I will buy you ______ someday.”

I noticed his sister had a pale face. ______, her legs were too thin, and she was unable to ______.

After that day I went to his home several times. And I got to know more about him and his ______. Poor as they were, the boy ______ refused my money, and said, “I can ______ money by myself, thank you.”

Soon I ______ my manager of the supermarket that a boy would go to ______ here the next day.

No matter how poor we are, we will ______ give in to ourselves.